During her youth, Marjane was exposed to the growing brutalities of the various regimes. Many of her family friends were persecuted, arrested, and even murdered. She found a hero in her paternal uncle, Anoosh, who had been a political prisoner and lived in exile in the Soviet Union for a time. Young Marjane greatly admired her uncle, and he in turn doted on her, treating her like a daughter. Tragically, as detailed in Satrapi's autobiography, Anoosh was arrested again and executed; his body was buried in an unmarked grave in the prison. Anoosh was only allowed one visitor before his execution, and he requested Marjane. The loss of her uncle left her deeply upset. As a young teen, Marjane began to act out, getting into trouble with the police for breaking modesty codes and buying music banned by the regime.

Her parents grew concerned that Marjane, a strong-willed and rambunctious teenager, would run afoul of the strict new public codes for women.[6] They arranged for her to study abroad, and in 1983 she arrived in Vienna, Austria, to attend the Lycée Français de Vienne.[7] According to her autobiographical graphic novelPersepolis, she stayed in Vienna through her high-school years, sometimes staying at friends' homes but for three months living on the streets. After an almost deadly bout of pneumonia, she returned to Iran. She studied visual communication, eventually obtaining a master's degree from Islamic Azad University in Tehran.[8]

During this time, Satrapi went to illegal parties hosted by her friends, where she met a man named Reza, a veteran of the Iran–Iraq War. She married him at the age of 21, but they divorced a couple of years later. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg, France.

Satrapi is married to Mattias Ripa, a Swedish national. They live in Paris.[6] Apart from her native language, Persian, she speaks French, English, Swedish, German, and Italian.[9]

Satrapi prefers the term "comic books" to "graphic novels."[14] "People are so afraid to say the word 'comic'," she told the Guardian newspaper in 2011. "It makes you think of a grown man with pimples, a ponytail and a big belly. Change it to 'graphic novel' and that disappears. No: it's all comics."[15]

Persepolis was a very successful film both commercially (with over a million admissions in France alone) as well as critically, winning Best First Film at the César Awards 2008. The film reflects many tendencies of first-time filmmaking in France (which makes up around 40% of all French cinema each year), notably in its focus on very intimate rites of passage, and quite ambivalently recounted coming-of-age moments.[18]

Satrapi and Paronnaud continued their successful collaboration with a second film, a live-action adaptation of Chicken with Plums, released in late 2011.[19][20] In 2012, Satrapi directed and acted in the comedy crime film Gang of the Jotas, from her own screenplay.[21][22]

Following the Iranian elections in June 2009, Satrapi and Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf appeared before Green Party members in the European Parliament to present a document allegedly received from a member of the Iranian electoral commission claiming that the reform candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, had actually won the election, and that the conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had received only 12% of the vote.[24]